The University of Nottingham is to launch the biggest fundraising campaign in its 130 year history. It aims to raise £150m to transform research, enrich the student experience and enable the institution to make an even greater contribution to the global communities it serves.

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign will advance research into key areas such as bioenergy and global food security. It will improve health outcomes and quality of life for patients, carers and the elderly. It will also help the brightest and most promising schoolchildren, undergraduates, and postgraduates to realise their full potential regardless of their socio-economic background: www.nottingham.ac.uk/impactcampaign

The Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham, Professor David Greenaway, will officially launch the Campaign at 12 noon on Monday 17 October at the East Midlands Conference Centre on University Park.

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Professor Greenaway said: “Many of the world’s great universities have been able to flourish due to the visionary actions of philanthropists. Such investment has allowed independence of thought and action by scholars and students to tackle society’s most pressing issues.”

Two influential Nottingham alumni have agreed to Co-Chair the Campaign — Jeff Randall, Sky News presenter and Daily Telegraph columnist; and businessman and philanthropist David Ross, co-founder of The Carphone Warehouse and founder of the David Ross Foundation.

Jeff Randall said: “I graduated in 1979 but my enthusiasm and love affair for The University of Nottingham remains undimmed by time. That’s why I’m supporting the Impact Campaign to raise £150m. It’s a lot of money and seems like a tall order but it’s a privilege to be involved and to give back something to the University that gave so much to me.”

The Campaign launch week will see the opening of the University’s new micro brewery — a one-off celebration beer made from locally sourced ingredients has already been brewed and bottled. Research showcases will include a virtual-reality prototype surgery simulator designed to help train today’s neurosurgeons to save more lives. There will be a demonstration of the first ‘Inflativerse’ manned by experts from the School of Physics and Astronomy. This inflatable planetarium will be taken into schools to inspire students to pursue more science based subjects.

A special time capsule event asking Nottingham students in the UK, China and Malaysia where they hope they will be in 10 years time will take place on Wednesday 19 October. The capsule will be buried by the Vice-Chancellor and Nottingham’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Michael Wildgust. The students’ comments will be posted on the following website which will go live on Monday 17 October: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/impactcampaign/time-capsule

On Friday, invited guests will be treated to a sustainably sourced lunch created and overseen by Nottinghamshire’s only Michelin Star Chef, Sat Bains. The week culminates with an attempt to set a 24 hour world record for sustainable energy generation.

The work of this five year Campaign has already begun. A total of £50m has already been raised through generous donations both large and small.

Professor Greenaway has personally helped to raise funding. In September he completed the Campaign’s hugely successful sponsored cycle ride ‘Life Cycle’ from John O’Groats to Lands End. The eleven strong team of cyclists included staff from the University’s campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. Together they raised over £209,000 for The University of Nottingham’s Sue Ryder Care Centre for Palliative and End of Life Care, and the money is still coming in.

Professor Greenaway said: “Life Cycle was just the warm-up to the launch of our campaign to raise £150m. We are proud of what we achieved.

“The University of Nottingham was founded on the vision and generosity of Jesse Boot. He believed that a pioneering spirit and academic achievement were the key to a better society. Today his vision stands firm and these deep philanthropic roots continue to nourish the University’s uniquely global growth and worldwide impact.”

The public are invited to join TV stars, students, academics and leaders from the worlds of business and higher education for three Question Time-style debates on health, innovation and the role of universities.

‘Pills, potions and prescriptions, or care, community and lifestyle? What works best for health and well-being today?’ — takes place at 6.30pm at Nottingham Contemporary on Tuesday 18 October, chaired by award-winning journalist Jeff Randall.

‘What is the role of universities in nurturing talent?’ — is at 6.30pm at Business School South, Jubilee Campus on Wednesday 19 October, chaired by Alex Corck-Adelman, president of The University of Nottingham’s Students’ Union.

‘From mind to market: where do good ideas come from?’ — will be held at 6.30pm at the Keighton Auditorium on University Park on Thursday 20 October. Award winning broadcaster and writer Adam Hart-Davis is on the panel. He is joined by seasoned technology reporter Maggie Philbin and Professor Keith Campbell who was part of the team behind Dolly the Sheep.

Five Campaign themes will be rolled out across the week-long launch:

MONDAY 17 OCTOBER

The Nottingham Experience — The University has a commitment to the physical environment, evident on all our award winning campuses. These frame a memorable, often life-changing experience for those who have lived and worked on them, characterising their ‘Nottingham Experience’. The Campaign will preserve and expand this legacy for future generations.

TUESDAY 18 OCTOBER

Health and Well-being — The University of Nottingham has a strong tradition of pioneering work in medicine, diagnostics and community health. The Campaign will advance major research programmes to significantly improve health outcomes and quality of life for patients and carers in areas such as children’s health, cancer, infection, pain, mental health, and stroke rehabilitation.

WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER

Nurturing Talent — The aim is to support the brightest and most promising schoolchildren, undergraduates, and postgraduates to realise their full potential regardless of their socio-economic background. The Campaign will support the University to provide a diverse range of scholarships and bursaries to encourage academic excellence and to overcome financial obstacles which might otherwise deter able students from applying to Nottingham.

THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER

Ingenuity — The Campaign will provide funds to advance the research carried out at the University and the discoveries we make. These additional funds will enable blue-sky and translational research excellence to flourish in areas such as carbon capture and storage, how to produce medicines with minimal impact on the environment, and developing training and diagnostic tools to aid better and more cost effective patient care.

FRIDAY 21 OCTOBER

Sustainable Futures — The Campaign will advance innovative solutions to establish sustainable and secure energy supplies and to develop state-of-the-art technologies to mitigate global warming. The University boasts an entire street of energy efficient homes — the Creative Energy Homes Project. The institution’s own commitment to a ‘greener’ future is for a 20 per cent absolute reduction in CO2 emissions from a 2009/10 level to be achieved by 2015. Research to meet the demands of a growing global population aims to produce more food from the same amount of land with less fertilisers, water and energy. Our expertise in brewing science, bioenergy and in developing climate-resilient crops will be key features of the Campaign.

Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.

The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power.

The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.